Collection of 125 cards of early twentieth-century prize fighters issued with Hassan and Mecca tobacco products. The T218s feature boxers and various champion athletes, while the T220 issues feature only boxers. Both issues are very similar in design, although the T220s are an all-boxing set, slightly larger in size, and considerably rarer than T218s. This collection includes sixty-one of the 66-card subset of T218 boxers from the 153-card series, a complete 50-card set of T220s, plus fourteen T220 “Silver Border” variations. 1) T218 Complete Set (61 cards): 10% Ex-Mt, 56% Vg-Ex to Ex, and 34% Vg. Keys: Abe Attell (Ex), Joe Gans (Vg), Joe Jeannette (Vg), two James Jeffries (Ex-Mt and Vg), two Jack Johnson (both Vg), Stanley Ketchell (Vg-Ex), and Sam Langford (Ex/Ex-Mt). 2) T220 Complete Set (50 cards): 22% range from Ex-Mt to Nr/Mt (with a few slightly better), 14% Ex, 20% Vg-Ex, and 44% Vg and slightly lesser. Keys: James Corbett (Vg/Vg-Ex), Jack Dempsey (Vg), George Dixon (Vg-Ex), Bob Fitzsimmons (Ex-Mt), Joe Gans (Vg), Sullivan/Kilrain (Vg), Jeffries/Sharkey (Vg-Ex), Peter Jackson (Ex), and John Sullivan (Ex-Mt). Also included are fourteen T220 "Silver Borders.” T220 boxers are usually seen with plain white borders but twenty-four of the fifty cards in the set were also issued with silver borders. The "Silver Border" cards from this series are by far the more difficult to find and more desirable of the two styles of T220s. They have always been appreciated by advanced collectors for both their rarity and their distinctive style. Consists of: Beecher (Vg-Ex), Carney (Vg), Edwards (Vg-Ex), Erne (Vg), Gans (Vg), Lavigne (Vg), McAuliffe (Vg-Ex). McCoy (Vg), McGovern (Vg), Moore (Vg-Ex), Ryan (Vg), Wilson (Gd), Driscoll/Glover (Vg), and Randall/Belasco (Vg). Compared to baseball cards of the era, these early boxing cards, which are at least as scarce, represent a particularly outstanding value. These sets haven't seen the light of day in decades. This is an extremely attractive and fairly comprehensive collection of cards from two of the classic boxing tobacco sets from the early twentieth century. Total 125 cards. Reserve $300. Estimate $500/$1,000+.SOLD FOR $3,818.75

(Click the smaller thumbnails to the left and right (if any) to cycle through each photo in the gallery of images for this lot.)